‘Big Head’ pleads not guilty to drug conspiracy

-in US court

Hours after he was extradited from Jamaica last Friday, Tower Suites co-owner Shervington Lovell, was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang in a New York Court and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to violate Maritime Drug Enforcement Law and now remains in a US jail.

According to US court information seen by this newspaper, Lovell was represented by attorney James Roth and he consented to his further detention as the information states “Detention on consent without prejudice.”

He is now set to reappear in court tomorrow before Judge Paul G. Gardephe for a status conference.

A US arrest warrant was out for Lovell, also called ‘Big head’, since August following months of investigation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration which entailed him meeting with confidential sources (CSs) in Georgetown and Jamaica as they allegedly planned a cocaine shipment to the Netherlands.

Court documents had revealed that, Lovell, a principal in Tower Suites in Georgetown, allegedly sought help on how to launder money from the Netherlands as while he had reportedly done so from the US and Canada it was a first for the European country.

It was following the interception of a cocaine-laden vessel, 350 miles off Diamond Valley, Barbados on July 27th 2018 that a sealed US arrest warrant was issued for Lovell. He and his co-conspirators (CCs) were allegedly hoping to traffic the 624 kilogrammes of cocaine to the Netherlands via the Azores.

Lovell, also called ‘Big Head,’ and Colombian, Ricardo Ramirez were arrested along with a Surinamese national on October 25th at the Norman Manley International Airport in Jamaica on drug trafficking charges.

According to the complaint filed against Lovell, in or about April and July 2018 in Guyana, Jamaica and Colombia on the high seas and elsewhere, he and others intentionally and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to violate the maritime drug enforcement laws of the US. It further says they knowingly intended to use a vessel to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of Title 46 of the United States Code Section 70503 (a) (1).